Hello there, I'm The Royal Protector and you're reading the sixth chapter of FSF. A bit on the shorter side of things, but it works all the same in my opinion.

Disclaimer: I don't own Fate/Zero or any other part of the nasuverse that may come up, if I did, I wouldn't be writing this

Chapter 6: An Avatar of Humanity

Consciousness returned to her as abruptly as it had left her. So much so that it had left her in a sudden, confused daze. The memories of her battle and the accompanying pain of her injuries still occupied the forefront of her mind. However, for whatever reason the agonizing pain was slowly fading away until it reached a more bearable, albeit still distracting levels.

"What am I even doing here-?" She heard a familiar voice ring out, only to be cut off by a severe coughing fit that sent a searing flare of pain through her abdomen-

The voice and the strange contradiction was enough to finally snap her out of her stupor, allowing her to reign in her senses and will everything into focus.

She was surprised to realize that she was already on her feet, walking down one of the dark streets of Fuyuki. The bigger shock came when she realized that she wasn't even in control of her actions and when it became clear that this wasn't even her own body… but her contractor's.

"…What is going on?" Morgan asked, only for the blonde to silently continue on his way without any sign of acknowledgement. She frowned to herself, he knew better than to ignore her, so something was definitely amiss. What's more, their surroundings made no sense whatsoever; only a minute ago they were fighting near the Civic Center, but they were currently passing through an area that greatly resembled the harbor.

For some unknown reason, she could also feel a hint of… anxiety and fear in her mind? What nonsense- These weren't her feelings, this wasn't her body, this wasn't reality, but a memory.

"So this is the so called Dream Cycle," she voiced her conclusion to herself. The Grail had informed her of this upon her summoning, but she hadn't experienced it herself nor did she expect to. The exchange of memories was limited to the time window when the individual was asleep, as a Servant she had no need for such. Despite their human appearance, Servants lacked most needs a human would need fulfilled to survive, even sleep or food were just wasteful indulgences. She was currently only unconscious due to her battle with Lancer.

A pang of irritation shot through her mind at the thought. That wretched knight made her look like a fool, it was a humiliation she wouldn't simply forgive and forget… His death was no longer a priority. No, he would suffer first, she will personally crush his pathetic desires. Only then will she use him as a stepping stone to achieve her wish-

She felt the body she was currently occupying quickly turn around, only to be slammed against the ground as a dark figure leapt onto them. Their form was shrouded in a black cloak, making it hard to ascertain their features, but the white bone mask staring her in the eye nevertheless confirmed their identity.

The Assassin fragment she had dispatched upon her summoning, meaning that she was currently reliving the events prior to her appearance from her contractor's perspective. She couldn't help but feel slight curiosity at the notion, the amateur magus hadn't exactly been forthcoming with details as to how he managed to hold out against the Servant. Maybe this would shed some light-

The hand grasping her scalp stilled suddenly, the bulging muscles on their arm froze as they visibly prepared to drive their skull into the pavement. Despite that, her senses could tell that the mana and the very space itself around them locked in place for who knows what distance. The air behind Assassin experienced a brief bout of whirlwind until something bright and dangerous burst into existence, her mind came to a screeching halt at the sight. A blue sphere of light surrounded by a pair of concentric rings of a similar color. They rotated around the core of the anomaly lazily, it was almost deceptive to the power they represented. Not many people could claim to have seen it with their own eyes, but she recognized the entity all the same. She found herself forming the words without even really meaning to say them, "That is…"

"…Alaya," the younger magus finished for her, tone filled with wonder and trepidation similar to her own.

The avatar of the Counter Force, the bane of mages and the guardian of humanity throughout the ages. Even she, one of the greatest mages to ever live, was filled with apprehension upon this sudden confrontation. Contact between individuals and the otherworldly entity usually only occurred in the form of termination through one of its agents, rarely if ever in a direct manner such as this. This inevitably raised the question, why was it here, presenting itself in such an overt way to them-?

"I-… What's going on? What am I even doing here? Did you bring me here?" Her summoner questioned with no small amount of discomfort. Despite being frozen in place, she could still feel the burning pain emanating from her chest, a likely source of said discomfort. Still, desperation seemed to win over discomfort if his line of questioning was anything to go by.

Anomaly, origin unknown.

No words were spoken, yet thoughts and concepts invaded her mind. Of not belonging here, confusion and interest. She grimaced at the information she received. Clearly, this was the entity's preferred way of communication. From the response, she could discern that it was denying any association with his appearance.

"Then… What's happening to me? What do you want?" He asked again perplexedly.

Foreign anomaly, existence denied by the world.

Another set of information; the image of a product of Gradation Air slowly succumbing to interference from Gaia. Then another with two slightly different spheres of light next to each other, for some reason she was inclined to believe them to be souls… human souls, Morgan realized with astonishment.

Her contractor's circumstances… He claimed to have come from a different reality that had little to no connection to the Root. If the Counter Force was to be believed, then this reflected in his very soul. It was a big enough divergence from this world's norm that Gaia didn't recognize him as human. Coupled with the container being from a foreign reality, Gaia must have deemed him an anomaly, something to be removed.

The world had been gradually deconstructing him since the moment he first appeared. The pain they were experiencing was from his body being slowly broken down.

"What-? I'm dying?" He received the news as well as one could, all things considered; with rising distress. Another concerning thought occurred to her at that; his soul was untouched by the Root, if it was different in even more ways than that, it may not return to the Root upon his death in the first place. It could very well be locked out of the cycle of death and reincarnation that normal souls undergo. What would occur in a situation as extreme as that, she couldn't tell. It may be an avenue to true immortality, or his soul may fade away into nothingness, one could even make the argument that as an exception to reincarnation, the Throne might record his existence due to technicality.

Morgan chuckled humorlessly to herself, her contractor was an interesting one, truly.

There is a way.

This time, several images flashed in her mind one after the other. A force crashing against another, pushing it back until the two are locked in a stalemate. The image of the two souls returned, though this time the differences between the two slowly vanished until they were nearly indiscernible from each other.

Morgan frowned skeptically to herself, this wasn't in the Counter Force's nature.

…If she was interpreting the message correctly, the Counter Force was offering to counteract Gaia's influence while slowly acclimating his soul to this world, but why? Why would an entity beyond the scope of any person take interest in him?

"…What's your purpose here? What do you want from me?" Hmm, it seemed her contractor at least had a similar thought process to hers, that would serve him well in the years to come if he continued to pursue the life of a magus.

Existential threat to humanity. Direct interference impossible, until now.

She skimmed over the new batch of transferred information with growing alarm. She remained silent for a few moments after reaching the end before releasing a scoff of derision, of course there would be a catch to all this. Even the younger magus quieted down, momentarily completely disregarding his diminishing health, and mulled over the information in silence.

More images of the Holy Grail, of its taint Angra Mainyu. A series of events branching away from one another, the outcomes of said events differing greatly until an anomaly appeared. After its appearance, significantly less outcomes ended with a dark, all-consuming mass slowly spreading over the world. A brief flash of Command Seals, then snapshots of a life yet to be lived ending in death and reincarnation. Then an alternative series of events played out; death, arriving in the Throne, being summoned again, again, again and again.

She supposed it was possible to learn of new things even after death, this was definitely her first time seeing the attempted recruitment of one of Alaya's dogs.

It must've been a special attribute of her contractor's, gathering the attention of beings beyond his perception. The Counter Force was notoriously unable to interfere with the Holy Grail War, but thanks to his unnatural origins and newly acquired Command Seals, it was presented with an opportunity to interfere at last.

"…You want me to end the Holy Grail War?" He questioned, eyes wide at seeing his Command Seals finish taking form on his hand.

The tainted artifact mustn't be allowed to exist.

Morgan adopted a queer look, the entity's offer was now clear; this was a binding contract.

Destroy the Holy Grail and in exchange it would allow him to lead a life in this world, it would even equip him with the power necessary to survive.

But if he failed, he would become one of its agents til the end of time.

It was a Geis of the highest order. A trade that was nowhere near fair. Acceptance or certain death.

Morgan supposed she would even praise such an attempt. It appeared when her contractor was at his most vulnerable both emotionally and physically, right before the moment he believed would be his last. But alas, as its source was a higher existence, it only served to irk her.

She huffed with growing disinterest, besides it was clearly a failed attempt. From what she managed to gleam of her contractor's personality, even he would be able to realize how skewed this deal was in the entity's favor. He most likely declined the offer and proceeded to summon her to defeat Assassin-

"If it means I get the chance to keep my promise…" Letting out a resigned sigh, he closed his eyes.

Once again, her mind came to a screeching halt.

She watched with muted shock as branches of blue light expanded slowly in their direction from Alaya's avatar.

He- He didn't agree to this nonsense, did he?

The branches reached them in but a few moments, their touch on her skin was like nothing she had ever experienced; the mana of billions of individuals making contact with her at once. The sheer amount of stimuli and knowledge brushing against her was astounding. Her mind was on the brink of being overwhelmed, even if this was merely a diluted memory for her.

"…I accept." He stated with a newfound resolution, the small branches growing to spread over his body.

With that, she felt herself being pulled away from this reality.

Her body quickly jolted upwards into a sitting position from the suddenness of her transition. An action she quickly grew to regret as the numerous injuries on her body made themselves known. She hissed from the pain and slowly laid back down on the hastily assembled cot she found herself in.

It was then that she realized she wasn't alone and that her movements drew someone's attention.

"Morgan? Thank goodness you're awake!" Her contractor was at her bedside, strangely enough. Judging by how worn out he looked, she would have expected him to be in a state similar to hers. Blood and soot stained his coat and face, his eyes looked heavy, as if he hadn't slept in a long time. His scarf, his first attempt at a Mystic Code specialized towards healing, was lopsidedly wrapped around his head, covering his left eye. Despite this, he seemed genuinely relieved to see her awake. She chose to simply stare at him in return, her mind going through a myriad of emotions one after the other; confusion, anger and suspicion before ending with bitter resignation.

"What is it? Oh, if it's the blood, then don't worry, it's mostly yours." He mistakenly misinterpreted her silence as worry. "I didn't have much time with the building crumbling around us, so I had to carry you back here through the sewers," he explained. She shook her head, dispelling her thoughts for the moment in favor of more information.

"What happened?"

"We messed up. I… let Kayneth get away and Lancer did a number on you. If I hadn't known better, I would have thought you to be dead," he admitted with a short sigh. "Speaking of which, how are you holding up?" She frowned minutely at the question, recalling the injuries she had received one after the other during her battle before doing an internal diagnosis-

…

"Morgan?" Her contractor questioned when she failed to formulate a response. Not bothering to hide her sour mood anymore, she answered.

"His spear left quite a few injuries on my body. All of them are cursed, so we're unable to heal them, but…" She paused for a moment in hesitation. "It also grazed my Spirit Core; it's making me steadily lose mana," she admitted with a discontent frown that lacked the usual energy it would normally have.

"…How much mana are we talking about?" He asked with an unsure expression, likely aware how bad the situation could be.

"The link between us is strong and is constantly supplying me with energy, so I estimate we have two to three days before I completely fade away." Her dream at least shed some light on that mystery. The textures and the sheer volume; it wasn't his mana in the first place. No, it was Alaya's, the entirety of humankind's. He was merely acting as a conduit for the Counter Force.

Honestly speaking, if it weren't for their bond, she would have already faded away even before sunrise. It was a similar situation to cutting a main artery and constantly pumping in new blood into the body to replace what is lost, while leaving the original wound unattended. It was ultimately a futile effort, but it did delay the inevitable.

…

"Hmm, not like it matters anyway," she said and turned to stare at the ceiling, tone resigned.

"What are you talking about?"

"Your deal with the Counter Force," she clarified with a knowing glance in his direction. He still seemed confused for a moment, but realization soon dawned over him.

"Ah, that. So you must've seen one of my memories… Yeah, I did say I became an Agent of sorts. It's just that my employer is not what most people would expect," he shrugged with a tentative smile.

"Hm, and it seems like I underestimated how cunning you can be. I praise your acting skills," she stated, voice and expression carefully neutral.

"I don't follow?"

"Don't take me for a fool, the objective of your mission is to destroy the Holy Grail. When exactly did you plan to betray me?" She openly glared at him now, having had enough of this charade. The younger mage looked taken aback at her words, but quickly collected himself.

"So, that's what bothering you? You assume you saw everything, but you probably missed something. It said that the corrupted Grail can't be allowed to exist, it said nothing about the untainted base. Cleansing the Grail would also fulfill my part of the deal."

"But it would be a much more difficult alternative, borderline unachievable even. No one would attempt it when their soul is on the line," she argued back tersely. His stubborn insistence on maintaining his pathetic act was starting to grate on her nerves.

"Do I really seem that untrustworthy to you?" He sighed, expression now lacking his previous energy. She merely glared at him in response.

…

"Three. That's how many Command Seals I would need to destroy the Holy Grail," he declared with his left hand held up, all three of his Command Seals visible. He wasn't looking at her directly now, even his expression evened out to a neutral one. It was like he wasn't even talking to her, more like he was addressing the whole room, or talking to himself aloud. "One to command you to kill the Lesser Grail's vessel, another to force you to destroy the Greater Grail under Mount Enzou and a final one to compel you to lay waste to the Ley lines under Fuyuki. That's all it would take to end this war and damage the Grail system beyond any hope of repair. I had ample opportunity to do all that up to this point, but I didn't. I'm not fighting to dismantle the Grail, I'm fighting to win the war like I'd promised to do." Only now did he deign to look back in her direction, features imploring.

"We're supposed to be partners, Morgan. I promised you that we would win the Grail together, but if we can't even bring ourselves to trust each other, we don't even have a snowball's chance in hell of winning."

"And what exactly did you do up to this point to achieve that trust?" She bit out, her tainted mana twisting inside her in rising agitation.

"You know, not everyone is out to deceive and stab you in the back." Her features sharpened as she realized her mistake. It wasn't that no one would risk their souls, only that no one sane would attempt to do so. Clearly, her contractor was unhinged in some manner, no matter how well-intentioned he was. Knowing that he wasn't intent on betraying her allowed her anger to subside somewhat, but it didn't disappear completely. In fact, it was only just replaced with a bitterness not entirely aimed at the younger blond.

"I won't claim to know what kind of world you come from, but you'd do well to learn that this world is a cold and cruel place. Surely, you must have realized this by now from everything you've seen up to this point? Compassion isn't rewarded here; it's ignored at best and punished at worst. The only form of justice you can expect is the one you exact for yourself and trust is a luxury only afforded by a spare few," she lectured irately. It's something that most people realized by themselves, but it seemed he needed to hear this stark truth. "This is the life of a magus."

"That's no way to live," he just shook his head and stood up to his full height. He walked away, appearing entirely eager to move on from that conversation. She looked on as he unwrapped the scarf and splashed some water in his face from a nearby bottle. Head injury seemingly completely healed up by now, he nodded to himself and changed into another spare coat.

"What are you doing?" She called after him, once she caught sight of him leaving for one of the exits.

"The only thing I can. I'm freeing you from that curse." He stopped right before the exit and turned back to address her. "The night didn't end with our battle, you know. After their retreat, Saber's Master demolished the hotel Lancer's base was located in. I've destroyed their trump card and now without their base and resources they are on the backfoot. I'm going to finish what we started last night and take them out of the Holy Grail War entirely," he elaborated for her benefit.

"Lancer has most likely fully recovered since our battle and loathe as I'm to admit, my wounds prevent me from engaging in battle." It irked her beyond measure, being helpless in a situation as dire as this.

"That's alright, I can handle it," he dismissed with an absent wave of his hand.

"Alone?" She questioned skeptically. Was he planning on taking on a Servant and Master at once on his lonesome?

"This is where trust between partners should come in. I'll be fine, if nothing else then trust that I wouldn't risk my life without a few plans in place." He briefly rolled up his left sleeve, showing the set of Runes on it as assurance. "You just stay here and rest. The less energy you spend for now, the better."

"Well, wish me luck." With a final smile, he turned away and left their base, leaving her alone.

…

She hated this.

Her chance to fulfill her wish was slipping away right before her eyes and she was powerless to do anything about it. Her only way out of this predicament was by relying on the very person she was actively questioning the sanity of.

Was this another cruel farce directed by fate? How very amusing she must be right now. She scoffed at the thought. It wouldn't be the first time her life would be the subject of various plays.

Her thoughts wandered after that, mainly on the conversation they had shared just now. He had made his point, it was clear that her contractor didn't have ill-intentions, but that also raised the issue of his naivety, or was it willful ignorance perhaps? They barely knew each other and he was ready to trust her with his life time after time like it was nothing, something to be expected even. That was a fatal flaw for a magus; simply giving away trust like that. What's more, he would expect her to do the same without any basis.

It was even more frustrating that she's effectively forced to do so, regardless of her opinion on the matter. It would be another matter if she could somehow ascertain his motivations or way of thinking, that way she could perhaps ease her doubts and plan accordingly, but-

…There was an avenue for that open to her now, wasn't there?

It was true that she should conserve as much of her energy as possible, so it wasn't like she would be wasting time by indulging in it anyways.

Morgan let out a restless sigh and lowered her head back on the cot. She then closed her eyes and let sleep embrace her once again. Hopefully, she would find the answers she was looking for.

"What a troublesome woman, did she really think I would revive a long dead person just to backstab them and trample on their dreams?" I muttered to myself as I walked onwards to my destination. Granted, it would be a normal assumption to make after briefly reviewing the deal I've made with my new employer, but I at least expected the benefit of the doubt, not outright accusation. I felt like we only managed to "resolve" that problem as civilly as we did because Morgan was pretty much incapacitated and unable to do much besides talking.

"Whatever, hopefully things will settle down a bit after I take care of this," I let out a weary sigh, absentmindedly smacking away a random branch in my way.

Although, disregarding her rather warped opinions on trust, I had to admit she raised some good points. No matter how well prepared I appeared, there was simply no way for me to defeat Diarmuid, Kayneth and Sola-Ui on my own. If I wanted to settle things, I needed a Servant on my side.

Easier said than done, to get a Servant I would need a temporary alliance with one of the other pairs. Tokiomi and Kirei were out right from the get-go, they were the ones who orchestrated this situation in the first place and were more likely to just kill me on sight. Kariya was in no place to offer help, and to be honest I didn't want to appear in a position of weakness to him right after offering my help, not when Sakura's life was on the line. Rider and Waver were similarly no good, since Rider promised not to go after Lancer nor Saber until their duel concluded.

My heart skipped a beat as I felt myself entering a Bounded Field. I stopped in place and looked around; to the uninitiated eye my surroundings appeared like any other unassuming forest, but after a minute or two of waiting, I could faintly feel myself being watched somehow.

Thankfully, we weren't the only ones with a score to settle with Lancer.

"Hey, Einzbern! Can I have a word with you?" I raised my Command Seals before me, calling out with an amicable expression.

"Are you recording, Morgan?"
"Yes, Master. You're live."
"Hello everyone, my name is Nathaniel Blake. Welcome to Jackass!" *Yeets himself at Lancer and Kiritsugu*

And that's how Nathan's able to do the things he does. He's in a similar situation to Archer back when he was alive and "empowered" by the Counter Force. In canon, we don't really know what that empowerment entailed, so I decided to implement my own interpretation. It's manifested in his 100 EX circuits and basic knowledge of magecraft.

Regarding the changing of the soul's properties while incarnated part; I don't really see anything in canon that would make this a hard-no. As a higher being residing between the Root and the normal world, Alaya has access to the Third Magic (if not all of them), so gradual alteration of the soul should be possible.

Some may argue that the deal doesn't make sense as Alaya normally wouldn't bother with making a fair deal as it doesn't understand individuals and only cares about the continuation of the Human Order. To this I would like to point out that incentive is key. In its deal with Archer, Alaya offered to give him the power to prevent a specific tragedy. It knows it must offer something in return or literally no one would accept the deals it's offering. Besides, if you examine the deal a bit closer, you realize that no matter the outcome, Alaya can only win from it.

If Nathan accepts and succeeds; great, a timeline is saved, good job everybody, humanity is preserved, let's pack things up. If Nathan accepts, but fails, Alaya just gained another Counter Guardian, one hand-crafted to suit its needs. And in the last case scenario where Nathan declines for some reason, the timeline just goes on as normal, reaching its natural conclusion. What's more, since the Kaleidoscope is a thing and the Throne of Heroes transcends dimensions, there might be a reality where Nathan becomes a Counter Guardian anyways and is available to all the different versions of Alaya to summon.

Alaya has everything to gain from this deal and nothing to lose.

As to why Nathan would accept such a deal… Well, I guess we'll find out later.

Reviews:

Brozeph: Gilgamesh only counts as one vessel as far as I'm aware. His strength may surpass many other Servants, but he's still just a single Archer Servant at the end of the day.

Guest: IIRC Francesca was only present for the aftermath to collect whatever she could of the Holy Grail's remains, but she could only retrieve some mud because Zouken pretty much cleaned up everything by that point.

Until next time!